'An enormous scam:' Senator accuses Trump of massive 'insider trading scandal'

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) flagged a social media post by president Donald Trump as possible evidence of insider trading.

The president urged investors to buy as the stock market dipped Wednesday morning, saying "this is a great time to buy" on Truth Social at 9:37 a.m., but less than four hours later Trump announced a 90-day pause on nearly all of his tariffs, sending stocks soaring.

"So I have questions about the tariff announcements today," Murphy said in a video posted to X. "Who benefitted, and who made money? This should matter to you, too, because this could be an enormous scam. What we know is at about 9:30 [Wednesday], Trump posts on social media that people should buy, it's a good time to buy, and then three hours later, guess what? He announces that there's going to be a 90-day suspension of many of the tariffs."

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The S&P 500 showed the stock market gained back about $4 trillion, or 70 percent, of the value it had lost over the previous four trading days after Trump announced the suspension.

"Predictably, the market, which had been crashing, shoots up, and anyone who made investments early today likely made a lot of money, and so the question is, who close to Trump knew that he was going to suspend the tariffs?" Murphy said. "Which of his Mar-a-Lago friends or his billionaire advisers were able to capitalize on that inside information? Why did Trump send out that post to his supporters earlier in the day? The bottom line is that the chaotic nature of this tariff policy, with Trump's position changing every single hour, gives ample opportunity for any individual who has early access to information about the White House's change in position to make boatloads of money, either by investing at the right time or pulling their money out of the market at the right time."

"This entire White House is one giant grift," the senator added. "Donald Trump and his friends are in power in order to use their access to government to make money. It stinks, and we should get to the bottom of it."